The NightWolf
by firestorm2
Summary: My gundam fic written specially for RagingSilverDragon! Sequel to Broken Wings. *complete*
1. Default Chapter

The NightWolf  
  
Darkness.. Nothingness. that was the extent of her world. And then suddenly, a line of white fire sliced through the blackness. She blearily opened her eyes a slit. A cell with stone walls, no windows, and a door made of gundanium. "I see you've woken up." came a low, silky voice, positively dripping malice. She turned her head and focused with her surgically altered eyes, zeroing in on the heat signature. Of course. She was hanging by her wrists from the ceiling. Standard treatment for OZ prisoners. And the voice? "Zechs Merquise." She hissed, her tenor voice filled with loathing. "Correct. Where are the others?" She smirked. "Like I'd tell you?" He moved out of the shadows. He stroked his chin, with a thoughtful expression on what you could see of his face. "Feisty, eh? I'm going to enjoy breaking your spirit, my dear assassin." She spit at his face and kicked out, swinging from the chains. A trickle of blood leaked from his mouth, but he didn't wipe it away. "Oh yes, I've heard what you can do. You, the best assassin in the world. And you know what? You're nothing more than a genetically altered freak." She gritted her teeth, although they couldn't rightly be called teeth. It was going to be another long night. Zechs smiled. It was going to be another fun night.  
  
Heero opened his latest e-mail from Doctor. J. He scanned it and glided out to share the news with his comrades. "We have a mission." Duo was complaining about Wufei beating him for the 50th time in a row in chess, Trowa was watching TV, and Quatre was sitting on the couch reading the newspaper. " What is it?" He shrugged. "Rescue. We attack an OZ base and rescue a prisoner. That's it." Duo said, "That's it? No other information? Which base? How will we know when we find the right prisoner?" Heero replied. "No. The base is their headquarters. We will know when we find the right prisoner, because they will be different from others." Wufei glanced up, an expression of mild interest on his face. "Different? How so?" He thought for a moment before answering. "They will be like no other. All I know is that the prisoner is highly trained. In what, I don't know." Quatre whistled. "A real blind shot, eh?" "Yes." He turned and walked out. "We depart at sunrise. Be ready."  
  
The pale sun peered over the horizon as the gundams lifted off. * Oz base is 50 miles to the north. * They flew over the forest, until Duo's sharp eyes spotted something. *Look. * The sheen of black metal glistened far below. *I'll check it out. * Wing Zero settled on the ground and walked forward. When nothing happened, he leaped out and slowly walked forward, with pistol at the ready.  
  
Heero whistled softly. A gundam! He turned and waved the others down. They stared in awe. A titan of black metal stood before them. Where their gundams had more or less humanoid heads, this one had a wolf's. The eyes were emerald green and the fangs were silver and extended beyond the bottom of the snout. An ebony and indigo whip coiled in the right hand, while a buster rifle substituted for a hand on the left. A glaive with no blade was in a sling on the gundams back. Two silver wings bigger than Wing Zero's extended out of the back, and were built like a dragon's.  
  
Duo stepped forward and touched it tentatively. The gundam straightened with a loud roar. They jumped back in surprise. The Gundam turned it's mighty head and stared with its flaming emerald eyes. It slowly locked eyes with each, the fire in its eyes smoldering. It roared again and opened its wings to its full wingspan, about the size of two football fields. It bent its legs, digging the claws into the earth before bounding upward, into the golden skies. A last roar echoed in their ears before the gundam dwindled into a small black dot.  
  
Trowa turned his gaze to his comrades. Each of them except Heero was staring at the sky; amazed that something so big could vanish so quickly. "Come on!" They sprinted to their gundams and took off. They caught up to the unknown gundam, who was waiting at the edge of the atmosphere.  
  
It uncoiled the whip and slashed through the group, sparks flying everywhere as Heavyarm's arm fell off. Trowa cursed and dodged as the whip flicked back, neatly separating Sandrock's main gun. The unknown turned its gaze to Wufei as he shot out the dragon arm. It hit the left leg.  
  
The unknown looked down and then faster than light, had exchanged the whip for the glaive. The glaive glowed blue, with a long blade of flame extending from the end. The gundam twirled it almost lazily, and suddenly shot straight towards Nataku, thrusting the flaming blade into its chest. Black smoke billowed out as Wufei let loose an extremely long line of curses in Mandarin.  
  
The black wolf withdrew the glaive and slung it into the carrier. His emerald eyes glittered with amusement. It turned toward Wing Zero and howled, a clear warning of death to who followed it. * We're setting down , we need to repair the gundams. * The group glided down into a forest and set up camp.  
  
'I can't. give.. up!' She smiled inwardly. ' Give up, my butt. I'm not programmed to give up.' She looked up at Zechs, who had several bruises and a broken rib. He sat at a table, nursing his injured dignity. "Some fun, Zechs." She waited for her squadron.  
  
Finally, at 3:00, they had repaired the gundams. Duo was no help, as he chattered incessantly about how cool the unknown was, and who had piloted it. Finally they finished and flew north. Some mobile dolls protected the base, but they destroyed those with ease. They quickly set down and ran through the base, killing several Ozzies.  
  
A yell of fury reached their ears and they headed toward the sound. They reached a cell, and Heero exploded the door. Inside was a strange scene. Zechs Merquise was hanging against the wall, held there by a girl. Her wrists were bound in chains, but she had flipped over and was staring upside down at Zechs, who gurgled feebly, seeing as she had a large black boot on his throat. ". and if you EVER call me a genetically altered freak again, I will tear your arms and legs from their sockets, and then I will slowly and painfully give you a death."  
  
She punctuated this by slamming a foot into his face. He gurgled and slid to the floor. She flipped right side up and produced a dagger from her boot. She commenced sawing through the chains with the knife held between her teeth. Finally they parted and she landed on the floor with catlike grace. She turned around and stared at them. In that split second, Heero saw that her eyes were slit vertically, like a cats. They were a shocking green, with cold flames burning. She made the first move.  
  
The girl vaulted across the room, drawing a gun from her black trench coat. Suddenly she was beside him, with a gun held to his temple. "Don't move! Or he gets it." She called in a surprisingly light tenor. "And I see you, boy with the sword who plans to sneak up on me. If you try it, I will kill you as well as your friends. And you, boy in the dark corners, come out." Duo came rather sheepishly out, while the others wondered how this girl had managed to see him.  
  
Heero turned his head and glared into one emerald eye. She stared just as coldly back. He noticed that she had an X scar through her left eye, but the eye still functioned. "Put down your weapons, all 5 of you." They silently drew out all of their guns and threw them on the floor. "You, katana boy, I believe you have 10 guns still concealed and a dagger in your shoe." He gaped before glaring and piling them on the floor, muttering about weak onna's all the while.  
  
Once she was satisfied, she slowly drew the pistol back into her coat and stepped away. She stood tall in the light, staring at the pilots. Her hair was black and tied back into a ponytail, and she was wearing jeans and a tube top. She seemed perfect, too perfect. "Names and numbers?" "How do you know we have numbers?" Duo asked. She turned her cold gaze on him. "That is my concern."  
  
Heero motioned for them to go ahead and comply. "Heero Yuy, 01." "Duo Maxwell, 02." "Quatre Raberba Winner, 03." "Trowa Barton, 04." Wufei refused to answer and glared sullenly. She turned and uttered something in Mandarin. His ears turned red and he ground out, "Chang Wufei, 05."  
  
"And your trainer?" Heero darted his eyes around the room, searching for an exit. Duo glanced at him and told her. "Dr. J." Her eyes narrowed and she let out a low hiss. "Oh yes," she muttered, "we have some unfinished business, me and him."  
  
" You know him?" The girl looked toward Heero. "Yes, I know him. Very well, in fact." "Uh, can we have your name?" Duo queried. "She flicked her sub- zero gaze to him. "I have many names. Some know me as Apollyon, others as Draconis, still others as the Assassin. But primarily I am known as the Shadowblade. Take your pick." " We'll just call you Draconis, I guess."  
  
Draconis stuck her hand inside her coat and pulled out a small gadget. "This is a proton shift bomb, that will utterly destroy this area with the force of 50 atomic bombs. It is set to explode in 4 minutes. Come." The pilots looked toward the bomb. Everyone except Heero and Draconis had a slight expression of fear. They followed her into the hallway as she lobbed the bomb into the corner.  
  
" What are you trained in? I'm guessing you're the pilot we've been sent to rescue?" She looked at Heero and jerked her head in Duo's direction. "Is he always this forward, Odin?" Heero stopped dead. "And how do you know that name?" She looked at her watch and broke into a long lope, steadily eating up the length. "If you do not want to be destroyed so that you will never find out any of your questions, hurry up!" They looked at each other and broke into a run.  
  
Outside they ran to the Gundams. Draconis climbed into Wing Zero and stood behind Heero's seat and began answering Duo's and Heero's questions. "Odin, I cannot answer that question. Let's just say I've known you for 18 years. Maxwell, yes, I am the prisoner you've been sent to rescue, and I have been trained in martial arts, knife fighting, piloting, hacking, stealth, guns, and explosives for 17 years. In other words, I am the perfect assassin. I also have one talent that Dr. J did not design me to have. It is empathy. I can see into people's minds, read their thoughts, and insinuate myself into a person's consciousness to read their memories."  
  
Heero absorbed the info, and noticed something strange in what she said. 'Dr. J did not design me..' He filed that glitch away for future reference.  
  
TBC? 


	2. The Assassin

The Assassin  
  
Heero glanced back at Draconis, who hadn't swayed once in Wing Zero's flight. ' She strange, and this gift of empathy makes her dangerous. But I can't help feeling she's familiar, and somehow, she'll help us. '  
  
"Draconis?" She looked down. "Yes?" "So, you can hear people's thoughts?" She sat down on the floor beside him and looked at the radar. "Yes, but my gift of empathy is minor. Quatre is better at it." Quatre, who had been listening from Sandrock, choked in surprise.  
  
Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard. A dome of fire ripped the soil, shredded the trees. Heero glanced at Draconis. She had her eyes closed and was listening to the roar of the fire. She had an expression of happiness on her face, and was grinning slightly. Two long fangs pointed from her mouth, and shined silver in the glow of the screens.  
  
Finally, they reached the safehouse. Draconis leaped lightly down, and landed on her feet. Her ponytail flew up in the wind, revealing a black smudge on her neck. Heero reached out and grabbed her ponytail. "What is that black mark on your neck?" he asked in his monotone. She turned and glared. "It's a barcode, for identification. Look, let's go in the house, and I'll explain everything there."  
  
They walked in, and Draconis shed her coat. Everyone stared; even Heero was impressed. She had two bandoliers of black leather across her chest, with knives hanging from them. She also had a belt with two pistols in holsters, and knives ranged around the inside of her boots. Plus, several proton-shift bombs were in a pouch on her belt. And two swords were on an X position on her back. Each artifact was stamped with a wolf's head crest. She was a walking arsenal.  
  
Trowa and Quatre sat on the couch, Duo plopped down in a armchair, and Heero and Wufei leaned against the wall. Draconis seated herself in a chair facing all of them. "What do you want to know about first? The barcode, or how I know Dr. J?" Heero spoke first. "The barcode."  
  
" Let's see. I was born on July 12, with a twin brother. Dr. J was a family friend." Duo and Quatre exchanged glances. This was starting to sound like when they hacked onto Heero's laptop to find out what his training had been like. Since then, Trowa, Quatre, or Duo hadn't been able to forget what he had written.  
  
"There's a better way to do this. Wait." A green light spread out and they disappeared. They came back to themselves in a dark room. "We are here. Dr. J abducted me when I was 11 months old. He left my brother behind." Suddenly, the lights flicked on. Quatre had to stuff his fist in his mouth to keep from screaming.  
  
A large tube filled with blue fluid dominated the room. Computers and machines filled almost every other square inch of space left. Draconis escorted them towards the tube. Inside, hanging suspended, was a baby version of her. "Shh, watch. I'm going to be. " Suddenly, she became silent. A metal claw lowered into the tank and picked up the baby Draconis. It lifted her out and proceeded into the next room. They followed the claw.  
  
The baby was on a metal table, watching Dr. J. "Perfect." He smirked. "I'll call her Lupus Sapiens." A nurse approached and gave him a syringe with fluid. He jabbed the baby in the arm, and swept out. The claw lowered and took the kid away.  
  
"So, you see." Duo was trembling. "Lupus Sapiens. That means human wolf!" She smiled sadly. "Yes, Duo, you are correct. I am not human, nor am I wolf. I am a mixture. A girl with human features, wolf fangs, wolf eyes, wolf abilities, and human mind. Therefore, I am an outcast. Neither of one world, or the other."  
  
The green light expanded again. "Here we are, 12 years later." They were in a small cell. The younger Draconis was asleep on the bed, lost in fitful dreams. Suddenly, the door swung open. "You, girl, get up!" Draconis sat up. Her eyes glittered with cold fury. She leapt forward on all fours and swiped with a claw, growing from her finger.  
  
The great vein in the neck of the guard severed and blood poured to the floor. " This was not my first kill. Nor was it my last." The light crept out and they were back in the safehouse.  
  
"My other abilities are my eyes and hands. I see heat signatures and I can see through thin materials, like leather. I grow claws, when I have need." She flexed her fingers and silver claws shot out.  
  
She looked up. "You may think you know me, but you do not. Everything I have told you is true. So, you may wonder, who am I? I am a highly trained assassin. I am an outcast. I am Draconis, genetically altered Lupus Sapiens." She bowed and left the room. "I leave you to your thoughts."  
  
The silence was broken by Duo. "So, Wu-man, think she's a weak onna?" Wufei shook his head. "No." There was grudging admiration in his voice. "No, not at all." 


	3. The Unknown

The Unknown  
  
Heero stretched and flipped down his laptop. He had been working all night trying to find information on Draconis, but there was nothing. He walked over and pulled back the curtains. Draconis was out on the lawn, with her bandoliers and all on. 'What is she doing?'  
  
She thrust her hand into her pocket and came out with 4 daggers gripped between her fingers. Draconis flicked her hand once and the daggers whizzed through the air, burying themselves to the hilt in the tree, each in the bulls-eye. She smiled and suddenly turned and flipped a dagger towards Heero's face. It came closer and closer, and then she jerked it back.  
  
"I see you've found my little practice session, Odin." He nodded. "Affirmative." Draconis leaped into the air, and suddenly was on the window ledge. Heero didn't blink. "Where did you sleep?" She grinned. "Wouldn't you like to know?" She flipped backward and loped into the forest, her gait the steady, mile-eating jog of a wolf.  
  
Heero waited for 5 minutes and followed her. She continued to a grove in the forest and sat down. Heero froze and waited for new developments. She pulled out a small transmitter and flipped a switch.  
  
A roaring sound was heard and suddenly the black wolf gundam set down in front of her. Draconis ran up and waited. The gundam kneeled down and extended his hand. She climbed on and the gundam lifted her up into the cockpit. The Unknown snapped his wings out and leaped into the air, rapidly disappearing. Suddenly, the whip slashed down and sliced through the tree he had been hiding in.  
  
" COFFEE! COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE!" Duo ran around the safehouse screaming for coffee. Heero walked in, shot out his arm, and stopped Duo in his tracks. "I have information." Duo gaped and screamed loudly, "INFORMATION!" The others came running in. "What is it, Yuy?" Heero sat down. "You know that gundam that nearly destroyed us?" They nodded. "I know who it's pilot is."  
  
"Who?" "Draconis." Everyone looked surprised except for Trowa. Wufei started yelling about how a weak onna shouldn't be piloting a gundam, and so on. Quatre said nothing, just stared. And Duo.. Duo was Duo. "Let's find her!" They activated the gundams and followed the unknown.  
  
Draconis waited silently, hidden beneath the surface of a lake. She watched the blips on her screen fly toward her. "Well, Slash, ready for some action?"  
  
"I don't get it, she should be right here." Duo was confused. (An: What a surprise!) Suddenly, a whirlpool started forming on the lake. He looked down, but nothing was causing it.  
  
A loud roar erupted from the lake and the unknown flew up to meet them. " You're better than I thought." Duo asked, "How good are you?" Draconis appeared on screen. " Why don't we decide that by a duel? You five against me at one time. I assure you I can handle it." She extended the wings to their full spread and waited. "Okay."  
  
The unknown accelerated and suddenly was straight behind Quatre. He turned and fired several bullets. She dodged and grabbed Sandrock in a lock. Wufei fired Nataku's dragon arm and hit Draconis. The unknown ignored the dragon arm and bent his fangs to chewing on Sandrock's neck. He ripped the wires for the guns and weapons to pieces. "You're out, Quatre."  
  
Wufei started hauling Draconis in, while Trowa started firing with Heavyarm's machine gun. Draconis dropped, and twisted the wings, sending her gliding down. She grabbed the glaive and charged it, while flicking her whip at Duo, sending his scythe falling into the lake.  
  
Suddenly, the glaive came shooting at Trowa with the blue flame flickering. Draconis turned and flicked the whip at Nataku. The glaive plunged into Heavyarm's at the same time the whip neatly separated Nataku's lower body from his torso. "Duo, Wufei, Trowa. You lose."  
  
Heero came forward and fired the buster rifle. Draconis dropped, and targeted the engine. She turned the whip around and threw it. It burrowed into the engine. " Do you want to see my top speed?" Without waiting for an answer, she accelerated and dwindled into a black dot.  
  
Heero flew after her, but to no avail. A black blur slipped by him and grabbed Wing Zero in a lock. The buster rifle was right at his throat. "You lose. But I'll do the ritual strike." The unknown plunged a claw into Wing Zero.  
  
Heero slowly maneuvered Wing to a standstill on the shore with the rest. Draconis leaped down from the unknown and surveyed the pilots. Everyone except Heero was gaping at her, surprised that she had done in two minutes what OZ could not. She had stopped the gundams.  
  
"Uh, what is your gundams name?" Duo inquired. "His name is the NightWolf. Besides the weapons, he is equipped with a system like the Zero, but better. It is called the X system. I designed NightWolf myself. Now, stop gaping, or I'll use you for target practice, and I never miss. Ask Odin." Heero nodded. "Affirmative."  
  
Draconis walked over to the damaged gundams. She inspected them and turned to NightWolf. "Hand me the aceltyne welding torch." NightWolf grabbed the torch and bent down. He passed it gently to her. Draconis turned and glared at the pilots. "Stop staring, or I won't repair the gundams." She turned back and commenced working.  
  
The pilots were sitting on a log watching Draconis repair the gundams. That wasn't amazing. What was amazing was that NightWolf was helping her. He grabbed tools from a compartment and passed them to Draconis, often without being told. "Hold this blue wire, buddy." The hiss of welding came from Wing Zero. She turned and washed her face of the smudges. "He's finished. I added a thermal imaging chip and a reaction enhancer. He can now respond to your commands 50% faster."  
  
NightWolf and Draconis moved onto Nataku, the last one and most damaged. "This will take an hour." She finished and they flew back to the safehouse. 


	4. The Companion

The Companion  
  
Quatre padded down the hall, looking for Draconis's room. He slowly opened the door and stepped in. Suddenly, a loud growl could be heard, reverberating through the house. A black shadow moved in the corner and leaped forward with fangs glinting.  
  
Quatre found himself on the floor, pinned by something large and furry. Trowa skidded in, followed by Wufei, Duo, and Heero. The thing turned its head and snapped at them, warning them very clearly. "Trowa, what's on me?" Trowa gulped and paled.  
  
"It's a wolf, but it's huge! It's head is at least six feet off the ground." Wufei suggested, "Perhaps we should wake Draconis." Duo moved to the bed, skirting the black wolf. He shook Draconis's shoulder, and then leaped back in time to prevent being decapitated by a very large silver claw.  
  
She sat up and blinked. "What's the problem?" Trowa pointed. She sighed and called the wolf. "Slash!" He moved off of Quatre and padded back to her. Draconis reached up and stroked his throat.  
  
" Look, do you want to die?" They shook their heads. " Then I would advise not coming into my room at night. Slash, another genetic experiment that I rescued from life in the Ring, will gladly kill you. He's smart, but doesn't like other people threatening me. So, unless you don't want your throat ripped out and your guts spilling over the floor, DON'T COME IN HERE!" This last was shouted.  
  
They backed up and then Slash bent his head and growled into her ear. She listened and then whispered back. He nodded curtly before advancing on them and lying down in front of the door. They stampeded back out.  
  
Heero walked downstairs and sat at the table. Trowa was sitting down watching the news, while Quatre was making pancakes. Wufei walked into the kitchen, nodded to them, and started drinking coffee. Suddenly, a loud yell was heard and then the sounds of pounding feet came.  
  
Duo tumbled down the stairs, and hid behind Wufei. A growling was heard and then Slash bounded down the stairs with Draconis on his back. "DUO! Did you take my X75 custom made rifle?!" Duo squeaked and tried to run.  
  
Draconis grabbed him and gritted into his face, "I am NOT a morning person. Do NOT mess with me in the morning, unless castration by Lupus Sapiens is your idea of a good way to die." She shook him, grabbed her rifle, and hooked an arm around Slash before swinging onto his back.  
  
Duo sat on the floor, shell-shocked. "Well, what have we learned today?" "Never" he choked, "mess with Draconis in the mornings."  
  
Draconis walked back downstairs with Slash behind her. "Hi." She slid into a chair and leaned back, petting Slash absentmindedly. Slash growled something, causing her to laugh.  
  
"You understand what he growls?" She glanced up. "Yes. It's because I'm part wolf." Something beeped upstairs in her room. She stood up and ran up the stairs with the others following.  
  
It was a laptop. She flicked it open and read the e-mail. "We have a mission. It's simple. Destroy an Oz base. No restrictions. This should be fun."  
  
Heero glanced at her. "You're in this for fun?" She smiled sadly. "No. But when your only happiness lies in hearing your enemies dying scream, seeing the death rattle, you want to do as much of that as possible." She stood up and walked out with Slash following.  
  
The NightWolf extended his wings and lifted off. "I'll go alone. Don't follow." He accelerated and disappeared. 


	5. The General

The Return  
  
blah= wolf speech  
  
The NightWolf landed on the lawn, stirring the grass. Draconis leaped down and grinned at the pilots. "Hi. Mission accomplished, hostage captured. Slash!" The black wolf slipped down, standing on his hind legs with a person thrown over his shoulder.  
  
"Treize Kushrenada. We fought a duel. He was pathetic; I beat him in 56 seconds. Slash, put him down." Slash threw him to the floor and pressed his face in the dirt.  
  
" Um, Draconis?" She flicked her emerald gaze to Wufei. "Treize beat me, and I've been trained for 15 years." She grinned. "Who's to say that I haven't been trained in killing since I was one year old? If you doubt me, I challenge you." Wufei smirked. "Gladly, onna."  
  
Draconis leaped up into the air, drawing both her swords as she did so. Wufei swept his katana upwards and blocked. Draconis twirled her swords in an arc, the silver shadow of the blades cutting the air. Steel sang against steel, the whine of fire and ice.  
  
Suddenly, Draconis flipped one sword in the air. It hissed, glowing gold as the sun's rays glinted. She flipped forward, and brought the flat of the sword down on Wufei's katana, sending it flying. Slash watched and leaped, catching it. The airborne sword fell, she twirled it around one finger, and it stopped, the edge pressing against his throat.  
  
He swallowed visibly. "I surrender." She slowly brought the swords away. "Here." He took one and struggled to stay upright. "Each sword weighs 250 pounds with the lead inserts in the hilt. Without it.. Let's just say you might have died."  
  
Trieze made a strangled noise. "Mnfff!" Draconis flicked out a claw and brought it to his face. "Listen carefully, scum." Her voice was low and deadly, with a rumble of danger like an approaching thunderstorm.  
  
"You have killed thousands. May you suffer at Hellgates." She swung her claw forward. The limp body thumped to the ground. A shocked silence reigned. She picked up the body and gave it to Slash. "Bury this."  
  
He nodded and trotted off. She stood there with her silver claw stained with blood. "I had to kill him. He murdered my parents. No, slaughtered them. They were defenseless." She folded the claw and stalked into the safehouse. Duo broke the silence. "I don't want to get on her bad side." They nodded wordlessly.  
  
Draconis sat at her window, stroking Slash. Well Slash, he doesn't remember me. I might have expected this. Slash growled. He will, pack sister. He will. She sighed and lay back. I wish I could be so sure. Slash stretched out beside her, sympathy in his emerald eyes.  
  
Wolves have many sorrows, pack sister. We must keep the secrets of the wild; for we are it's chosen. Sleep, sister, you can get a lot done in dreams. She turned over and kissed him lightly on the head. Night, Slash.  
  
Running.. flames... pain. she had to get away! She had to get away, now! She tripped, and fell. The girl lay there, trying her utmost to escape. She could do nothing, nothing, until the nightmare was complete. The flames crept closer, devouring everything. The girl closed her eyes, resigned to death.  
  
She was thirteen, and was going to die. In some ways, she welcomed it. But she was sorry that she would never again run across the moonlit fields with Slash, wolf and wolf. She was sorry that she would never know her brother again.  
  
The flames licked hungrily at her ankles. She screamed and screamed, finally falling into the blessed warm darkness. A black figure leaped the flames, grabbed the limp body, and ran off into the forest.  
  
Draconis tossed and turned, in the throes of a nightmare. Slash sat beside her, keeping watch. He sang softly, waiting for the agony to end.  
  
Bloodlines traced upon the ground,  
  
Ere' pawprints break our beaten paths,  
  
Where numbers thin, yet wills run strong,  
  
By night we win man's brutal wrath,  
  
Man thriving pon' our sad bloodbaths,  
  
Lost native will, the land once hath...  
  
Bring pity back into our dark, Shed light upon your brutal casts, And try to find that brutal spark, That brought your many kin afore, To take our kind, if nothing more, To man the arc of history, To shed our deathwinds pon' it's masts... Look blindly pon' these brutal casts...  
  
Your fire bringing to the air, Your presence of the land affirmed, Our howls, weak, reeking despair, Our callings dead upon your lead, Your bitter, unforgiving germ.. Pon' chain and rope and whip we've squirmed...  
  
For many lives of newborn pup, With lasting breath, their heads raise up, Their spirits weep their callings lost, Their parents' blood upon the grass, The hunger grows, time comes to pass, They lay their pain against the dark, Though moon and stars won't find their bark, Until man's will comes to their crest, They finally put their souls to rest...  
  
To coexist the native will, Adapt and be one with the trees, To follow scent and run the breeze, To love the pack, to share it's will, To care for kin, to bring down kill, To bring up pups, improve our skill, To nurture growth, have mouths to fill, To play and fight and just despite, What we succumb unto your might, Our shortened, bitter, hellish life, Their anger thins us like a knife, Until they grieve their unjust strife, Our loss in history not hushed...  
  
Finding the plains of prey forgone, We search the instincts of our kind, But strange new prey for soul to spawn, Has ruined our fragile way of mind, Man's blame to be our final find...  
  
  
  
To hide and pounce ere' sib or prey, To hunt, to bay ere' break of day, To trust our kin, feel warmth of May, Catch leaves of fall, make beds of snow, Have summer winds to shed our coats, To lap from streams' eternal flow, Feel winter winds' eternal blow...  
  
To birth new life, give it a home, Fell mother's tongue as nature's comb, To howl and bay, ere' break of day, Unto the night's eternal dome...  
  
Of old we roamed about the land, To search the breeze upon the trees, To search the lake's familiar sand, To coexist the native will, Until one day into our life, The white man came to hate and kill, To thin our numbers like a knife...  
  
We exist still, upon' the night,  
  
Though still does hate, our unjust plight,  
  
Still thrives the will, though, just despite,  
  
Upon our blood, the wolves of yore',  
  
Their longings shared forevermore,  
  
To live the life, upon man's knife,  
  
Not for revenge or settled score,  
  
To be the wolf, forevermore...  
  
  
  
With essence bright, where our souls burn,  
  
Upon the night, we only yearn...  
  
To be the wolf, forevermore... 


	6. The Armageddeon

FS- We're just going to assume that the pilots know what Slash can do. He starts fires, as big or as small as you want them to be. I'm just too lazy to write that into a chapter. :P  
  
Draconis shot silently, bringing down mobile suits with each shot. She was a blur of motion, fighting like there was no tomorrow. But even perfection tires. The others were above the base, fighting Virgos. The NightWolf turned and slashed the whip through a group of MDs.  
  
Heero fought hard, firing and shielding, defending and retaliating. Slash was beside him in the cockpit, watching. Draconis had insisted he come with Heero. Heero hadn't protested, Slash was a big help. He snarled each time something new showed up.  
  
Duo swung the scythe about, cutting through the Mobile Suits. He finished his group off and flew to help Trowa.  
  
Quatre and Wufei were back to back, energetically hacking through MDs, inflamed with the heat of battle. Trowa and Duo destroyed their clump, and helped them finish the MDs off. Heero melted his group with the buster rifle, and stopped. All of them turned to watch Draconis.  
  
The NightWolf blended into the night, but the glaive glowed blue. Draconis showed complete mastery of her gundam, but was tiring. She had been fighting for hours. The NightWolf's sleek frame was scarred; bullet traces and chips covered every inch.  
  
Draconis had no energy; she was running on pure adrenaline. The radar wasn't working; the whip had been broken by a lucky swipe from a Leo, and the glaive's blue flame was dimming. She heard a snarl from Slash and whipped around in time to see an Aries barreling down on the others.  
  
Heero turned and jerked. The last thing he had time to think was: What a great way for the Perfect Soldier to die. He closed his eyes and braced for the impact.  
  
When it didn't come, he cracked an eye open. The NightWolf was between them and the Aries. A large hole was through the middle. A severely injured Draconis came up on the com-link.  
  
Blood seeped from between her fangs as she whispered "Should.. have been.. more careful.." They were all paralyzed; refusing to believe that such a valiant person was mortally injured.  
  
Draconis was speaking again. "Go.. now.." She choked as pain coursed through her body. "But what about the mission?" asked Duo, bewildered. "The mission.. will be.. completed.. Go!" She pleaded.  
  
They turned and flew off. Only when they had gotten away did they notice. She was not with them. Her face appeared once again on screen. Blood poured from countless wounds.  
  
"Goodbye.. Slash. Goodbye.. Duo.. Wufei.. Quatre..Trowa.." She looked at Heero. "Goodbye.. my brother Odin."  
  
They all gaped as a bright light came from over the hill, and the sound of a gundam dying. Slash threw his head back and howled to the unfeeling stars. Heero was silent, staring. "My older sister, and I never knew it until now."  
  
It was not sound as such, that ripped their souls in two. It was a cry of anguish, grief, a cry of pain, and terror. It came, and sent some to their knees on the floors as their worst memories came back to torture them. The cry went on and on, a grief like a sword cutting them in a million pieces.  
  
-and it was not sane.  
  
Then- fire, elemental, unstoppable, came to earth.  
  
It exploded out of the sky and drove down in the Mobile Suits like the hammer of the gods; it spewed up from the ground like a scarlet waterfall in reverse. The ground flames came and met the downrushing red of the sky- fires. Within seconds, the entire battlefield had been turned into a furnace, an inferno; the flames exploded outward, and grew faster than a gundam could fly.  
  
Heero watched, feeling an emotion he was not supposed to have. Terror.  
  
~Gods~  
  
The maelstrom of flame pulsed, like a spasming heart, and soldiers were sucked, screaming, into the flames..  
  
Slash needed no fuel for his fires now, he could burn the rocks of the battlefield if he chose, burn the very air itself.  
  
The pilots watched in terror, the flames had a voice. It howled like millions of damned souls. It had a mind, and the mind was mad.  
  
The flames raged, vortices with the grace of a dancer and the appetite of a demon. The light was red, flickering, hellish.  
  
Slash leaped out of Wing, nimbuses of flame dancing on his fur, swirling on his claws. He ran to Draconis, threw his head back, and howled to the unfeeling stars.  
  
The flames reached for the Gundams, but they could not move, mesmerized as they were by the awful power. Slash turned to them, the rage in his eyes disappearing for a millisecond, long enough for them to see his desperate plea to flee the battlefield. They shook themselves and blasted over the horizon, Heero's glance lingering on the tomb of his sister. At least she had died a warrior's death.  
  
Slash lay over the Draconis, the dragon unfettered, free to ravage as it chose. All of his grief, rage, and hatred filled it and gave it a power beyond anyone's direst imaginings. So long as it consumed him, he was beyond caring. Wait for me, beloved. I'm coming. But first, I will avenge you. He closed his eyes, gave himself over to the dragon, and set the world, and himself with it, aflame.  
  
TBC? 


	7. The Pack

FS- This story and its prequel, Broken Wings, are dedicated to the wonderful RagingSilverDragon!  
  
2 years later, after Endless Waltz....  
  
A lone figure stood on a hilltop, looking at the ravaged scene of destruction below them. A small monument was there, testament to the feral warrior who gave her life so the pilots might live, and stop Mariemaia. The monument was pretty, a statue of the NightWolf, with Draconis sitting on his shoulder, swinging her legs with a grin on her face.  
  
A black wolf appeared beside the man. He stooped and rubbed Slash's head. "The others are coming?" Over the years, he had learned some of the wolf speech. "HEERO!!" Heero grimaced and turned. "What, Relena?" The poop- headed princess of peace flounced up, chattering happily. "What are you doing out here in this godforsaken spot, Hee-chan?" The wolf lifted his hackles and began to growl. A light touch from the pilot of 01 made him stop, although he watched her with mistrust.  
  
"Do you see that statue, Relena?" She nodded nervously at his tone. "I know there was a horrible gundam battle here two years ago, and some girl died. She must have been stupid, risking her life like that." Faster than a striking snake, Slash pinned her on the ground. Heero said impassively, "That girl was a gundam pilot. Her gundam was faster than Wing Zero, stronger than all of us, and could have destroyed entire planets without a second thought. Her name was Draconis. She was a wolf-human hybrid, and do you know what else?" She shook her head, getting mud in her hair.  
  
"Draconis was my sister." Relena sputtered, and choked when Slash pressed a paw on her throat. "Slash, let her up. It's not her fault she's a moron." Relena scowled and strutted off. A raucous shout came from the bottom of the hill. "Oy! Heero!" He slowly walked down the knoll, joining the others.  
  
They watched, worried, as Heero trudged towards them. After Draconis had died, he had secluded himself in his room with Slash, mourning with him. Slash had returned blood-spattered, but he had destroyed the entire battalion of mobile suits. He had brought one of Draconis's swords back with him, along with the trench coat.  
  
Heero was wearing the black coat now, with the sword swinging off his hip. When he had emerged from the room, he looked ghastly. His eyes were sunken, rimmed with red, his skin was white, and he depended on Slash to support him. Slash was no better, his ribs were sticking out, his once-glossy coat had lost his luster, but Slash and Heero loved each other like brothers, regardless of species difference. Since then, no one had been able to separate them, least of all Dr. J.  
  
"It's been two years, but it doesn't seem like it, does it?" Duo inquired. Heero didn't answer, just growled to Slash, and walked into the forest. "Man, he didn't talk before, but now its like he's gone, just an empty shell." Wufei commented. Duo's expression was sober, as he started moving into the forest. "I'm gonna see what he does in the forest." The others followed quietly.  
  
Heero had seen Duo talk, but hadn't responded. It wasn't worth it. "Pack- brother, will the pack be happy to see us?" Slash growled, "Yes," and loped ahead. Heero cantered around a tree and leapt into a gully.  
  
Duo watched the conversation and saw Heero jump into a canyon. Heero sniffed the air and pivoted. A white wolf slipped out of the undergrowth. Heero knelt to its level and whispered, "Hello, Frostfur." The wolf gazed on him with eyes of amber and led him to the den. The golden-colored alpha male smiled and sat, his brush waving. The wolf growled, "Hello, Glaciereyes." "Greetings, Dawnclaw."  
  
The pilots watched in amazement as Heero leaned against the rock wall of the den and listened to the wolves. Each of them had learned something of the wolf speech; they had to, living with a teen that hardly ever spoke English, and a full-grown wolf.  
  
"So Heero's name is Glaciereyes. Fitting." Duo whispered. They nodded; Heero's eyes had changed, growing more remote and cold with each passing month. Heero listened to the wolves' account of a highly entertaining hunt, which culminated in the deer escaping, but no matter. They had lots of food around, due to Heero and Slash's efforts to keep the pack well fed.  
  
"Glaciereyes. Call the pack together. We have an announcement. Get the humans behind those trees as well." Dawnclaw requested. Heero stared at the pilots with a blank expression before lifting them easily and plunking them in front of the alpha male.  
  
Heero threw his head back and howled piercingly. Seven wolves melted out of the forest. "Humans. Slash. Wolves. Glaciereyes. It has been two years since the death of Grasseyes, the best hunter we've ever known. However, watch." The leaders said, pointing to the den entrance.  
  
A scuffling noise came; a scraping, and the feral warrior slithered out of the den, blinking in the sunlight. "DRACONIS!" Heero screamed, throwing himself into her arms. "Shh, Odin. I'm here. I didn't die, I was in a coma. The pack didn't know who I was until I woke up." Heero hugged her, leaned back, started yelling, and hugged her fiercely again.  
  
Slash leaped onto her, his eyes flashing like a puppy's. Draconis tumbled backward, holding Heero in one arm and a hyperactive wolf in the other. She shrugged helplessly as she looked at the pilots. Duo was the first to come out of the trance as he shouted and grabbed her, shaking her. "You... you!" "Me me what?' Draconis asked, smiling. "You brave, you wonderful fool! You baka, you.." Words failed him as he stood back, shaking his head in disbelief.  
  
"INJUSTICE!" Wufei shrieked before giving in and hugging her, shouting "INJUSTICE!" the whole time. Quatre laughed before saying formally, "Welcome back to the living." Trowa said nothing, obviously, but smiled as big as he could.  
  
So the pilots, reunited again, walked out of the forest, and into the light and the wind and the clouds.  
  
******OWARI**** 


End file.
